Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the Premier and Cabinet put their name forward for Cabinet at the beginning of the 20th Assembly, one of the things they talked about was to build relationships and collaboration and working with Indigenous governments, and that's what I heard.
When I bring forward issues from my riding that comes from the Indigenous governments and my constituents, so to my question to the Minister of Infrastructure is that will the Minister commit to working with the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation chief and council to a feasibility study on the creation of an ice road from Yellowknife to Lutselk'e at the earliest possible date to help lower the cost of living for the community of Lutselk'e and residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's two items in there, and the first one was with respect to having relationships with Indigenous governments, Indigenous leadership. I had the opportunity recently to be -- to travel to Lutselk'e. I work with the chief of Lutselk'e on the Taltson project as a partner and I know, in fact, that the Premier met with the chief of Lutselk'e just today.
That said, Mr. Speaker, a separate question, then, becomes on whether or not initiating a feasibility study is or is not a reflection on the nature of that relationship. Mr. Speaker, I would distinguish the two. An estimate, rough estimate, on a ice road to Lutselk'e is 7 to $8 million. There's no guarantee that that would -- and, in fact, likely would not -- lower the cost of living. It certainly would not lower the cost of fuel. It's quite a distance. Barging is, in fact, a very economical way of getting fuel to Lutselk'e. And last year, Mr. Speaker, MTS, in fact, conducted an extra load to make sure that everything was getting to the community on time and to ensure that they receive not only fuel but, in fact, housing units as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Between Yellowknife and to Lutselk'e, we're looking about 200 kilometers, no different from between here to Gameti.
My second question is what are the barriers to constructing an ice road to Lutselk'e from Yellowknife? Why can't the GNWT build on the experience of other large ice road projects such as the Nechalacho ice road from Dettah to Thor Lake? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a very fair question. We, in fact, do build -- that estimate I was given of sort of 7, $8 million, based on the cost of the Tlicho region winter roads; a significant difference being in the Tlicho region, the winter roads are over ice crossings whereas to Lutselk'e, we are looking at crossing Great Slave Lake, which is obviously a huge body of water, behaves extremely differently. There's significant winds, significant movement on a very deep lake. Pressure ridges develop. There's high risks of having open water at any given moment. Significant variances in ice thickness, significant variance in the currents on the lake which is simply not the same kind of engineering as what it might be on a smaller body of water. Different storm events, Mr. Speaker, and an inability to build maintenance camps on land as they would be throughout -- periodically across a different body of water. So, again, quite a significant series of challenges. It's not to say it's impossible but just as an explanation as to why it is much more complicated and much more expensive. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I appreciate that. The Taltson -- sorry, I guess what I'm thinking about Yellowknife to Lutselk'e is one avenue. The other possibility we could talk about is the Taltson hydro or even from Fort Resolution to Lutselk'e. Would an ice road to Lutselk'e from Yellowknife not be a good fit as part of a larger infrastructure project to secure supply chain and transportation network across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is, of course, some significant critical minerals deposits not far from Lutselk'e in terms of rare earth elements, and it certainly is, of course, work that's -- we're hoping will be getting underway on a Taltson expansion which would have a cable running under the water but would certainly involve potentially some, you know, work being done in or near Lutselk'e and potentially ending up having to move some equipment. That doesn't necessarily open up having consistent year over year winter road. It simply means that there may be some years where even that high cost can be borne by multiple users. But, Mr. Speaker, I don't want to end on a negative note. The Taltson comment does certainly remind me that as far as strategic infrastructure in this region, there's an interest now in micro hydro in the Lutselk'e region or Lutselk'e community, and certainly very happy to work with them on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
